Biomod/2012/TU Dresden/Nanosaurs

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Welcome

We, the Dresden Nanosaurs from Germany, invite you to a ride through our quest to design a stunning nano-biomolecular system, with versatile applications. We propose a novel biological tethering system based on the technologies of DNA origami and vesicular transport. The illustration below describes the principle of our system.

Signal-driven tethering system

On a central giant vesicle, illustrated as a large yellow sphere, switchable DNA origami boxes are attached on its surface. In the presence of certain signal proteins, the closed DNA origami boxes get unlocked and open up. DNA single strands that were shielded before are now accessible. Therefore they can specifically hybridize with complementary strands on smaller vesicles. Hence multiple smaller vesicles can be specifically attracted to the central giant vesicle.
To better understand the different components, you may click on the images below the panel.